- Film And TV
- 16 Apr 21
'I Slept With Joey Ramone' is based on memoir written by Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh.
The King of Staten Island actor and comedian Pete Davidson is set to star as Joey Ramone in an upcoming Netflix biopic about the late Ramones legend.
The announcement of I Slept With Joey Ramone arrives on the 20th anniversary of Ramone’s death on April 15th, 2001.
Saturday Night Live star Davidson and his frequent collaborator Jason Orley penned the screenplay for the film, which based on the 2010 memoir by the same name written by Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh.
Orley has also been tapped to direct the biopic after he previously teamed up with Davidson for 2019’s Big Time Adolescence and comedy special Pete Davidson: Alive from New York.
Streaming platform Netflix and STXfilm will produce the biopic, which is being made with the cooperation and support of the Joey Ramone estate.
“When you share a bed with someone — and not just a bed, but a childhood, a family, and a lifetime — you know that person better than anybody else. Mickey Leigh not only collaborated with his big brother’s band — he has irreplaceable memories of and insights into Joey Ramone, having supported him when no one else would and witnessed him overcome adversity in the most dramatic way,” STXfilms chairman Adam Fogelson said in a statement.
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“I Slept with Joey Ramone is a great rock anthem that will make an equally great rock biopic, set apart by a universal story of family. Pete is perfect for this role and we’re excited he and Jason will be bringing this icon of rock to life and thrilled to be collaborating once again with our friends at Netflix.”
Leigh’s 2010 project I Slept With Joey Ramone — written with Legs McNeil — was published nearly a decade after the punk legend’s death from cancer at the age of 49.
In the memoir, Leigh discusses sharing a bed with his brother growing up in Queens, their childhood and teen years, as well as the origin story of the Ramones.